Peter and Rock Connection

 John Wen, 3/29/2012

 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it (Mat 16:18). The Rock is named for Peter by Catholics,  the Lord Jesus by Christians.

我 還 告 訴 你 、 你 是 彼 得 、 我 要 把 我 的 教 會 建 造 在 這 磐 石 上 ． 陰 間 的 權 柄 、 不 能 勝 過 他(太16:18)。天主教據此經文以彼得為建造教會的磐石, 基督教則以耶穌為這磐石。

Not knowing the Greek enough like the ancient Catholics did with their mother tongue, besides Greek word study, I think Peter-rock connection is not all that wrong, but Catholics have farfetched this verse for building their papal system。

When Peter called Jesus being Christ while no other disciples did, that started the Peter-rock connection. . Why matters? Because Peter was the only one revealed or instructed by God to do so, just like Jesus doing everything by God’s will(John 5:19) 。So He wanted Peter, the one like Him to build His church。 Furthermore Jesus gave him the “key”, his authority to defend his church against the hell。 Later in 18:18, Jesus also gave the same authority to all other like-minded disciples – those obey His commands (John 14:21) 。

Theologically we all agree that Christ being the rock(磐石) upon which the church is built。Biblically in building the church Jesus is the corner stone(房角石) according to Himself in 路 20:17,  Paul in 弗 2:20 and Peter in 彼前 2:6。While the foundation(根基) is 使徒和先知, we believers are the living stones(活石) to complete the church.

By the way both 房角石和活石 use the same type of stones, what makes our stones useable is having Jesus’ life, since Jesus himself is the living stones (彼前 2:4) 。With all living stones being joined together in their rightful places, it rises to become the temple of God as well as Holy Spirit’s residence among us (弗 2:21, 林前 3:16 and 6:19) 。

Finally, what are these living stones?

被揀選的族類、是有君尊的祭司、是聖潔的國度、是屬神的子民、要叫你們宣揚那召你們出黑暗入奇妙光明者的美德 – the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you. (MSG bible, 彼前2:9) In short, those who were chosen and instructed to do God’ s will are just like Peter, the rock。